With Terry Story, a 30-year veteran with Keller Williams located in Boca Raton, FL
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Steve spoke with Terry Story, a 30-year veteran at Keller Williams. In this installment of the weekly Real Estate Roundup, Terry shared information with Steve’s listeners about some of the most popular home styles and trends.
Popular Home Styles – Part II
Last week, Steve and Terry discussed some of the most popular home styles, such as Ranch and the perennially popular Tudor style. Another currently popular style is the Craftsman, perhaps almost as popular with families as the Ranch style
The Mediterranean (which is sometimes called the Meisner) is more in line with an island or ocean feel. It’s extremely popular in southern states, particular along the coast, but you don’t need beachfront property to enjoy a beautiful, Mediterranean style home.
The Modern style, characterized by clean lines and neutral colors such as white, tan, and light blue, remains a favorite of those who choose living in the city over taking refuse in the country.
Popular Living Room Styles
People aren’t just focusing on the overall architectural style of their homes. They’re also paying attention to the specific style and design of different rooms in their homes. Living rooms are, naturally, one of the major rooms that people tend to give more attention to.
Living rooms in the 1950s style have increased in popularity in just the past year. This style features spacious, open designs and bright colors. Traditional, upholstered furniture with bold patterns is a popular choice.
Some people take their living rooms Coastal. The emphasis with Coastal styling includes very comfortable furniture and colors that feel soft and refreshing—light blues, pinks, grays, and various shades of white.
Terry’s also seeing some clients go with a retro 1970s style. The hallmark of this style is wood paneling or wood grains on just about everything. Other characteristically 1970s style elements include brightly colored accenting with carpet, drapes, and having at least one or two pieces of furniture done in outrageous shades of colors such as orange and red.
Kitchen Trends
Almost everyone ends up spending a lot of time in their kitchens. Therefore, making the kitchen an inviting and fun place to hang out is important for many homeowners. Outdoor kitchens are incredibly popular, especially right now, in the summer.
Floating shelves that simply attach to the wall, thereby allowing for clean lines, are very much in demand.
White and light-gray colored kitchen cabinets are also really popular right now, especially in homes with an open floor plan and where light and neutral colors already dominate.
One final note in kitchen trends: wallpaper is making a comeback.
If you’d like to learn more about buying or selling a home and to learn more about Terry, check out Keller Williams.
Disclosure: The opinions expressed are those of the interviewee and not necessarily of the radio show. Interviewee is not a representative of the radio show. Investing involves risk and investors should carefully consider their own investment objectives and never rely on any single chart, graph or marketing piece to make decisions. Content provided is intended for informational purposes only, is not a recommendation to buy or sell any securities, and should not be considered tax, legal, investment advice. Please contact your tax, legal, financial professional with questions about your specific needs and circumstances. The information contained herein was obtained from sources believed to be reliable, however their accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed. All data are driven from publicly available information and has not been independently verified by the radio show.
Steve Pomeranz: It’s time for a Real Estate RoundUp. This is the time every single week we get together with noted real estate agent, Terry Story. Terry is a 30-year veteran with Keller Williams located in Boca Raton, Florida. Welcome back to the show, Terry.
Terry Story: Thanks for having me, Steve.
Steve Pomeranz: We recently talked about the most popular architectural styles, but we didn’t get to finish all of the different things that are happening. I mean, let’s touch upon the architectural and let’s move on.
Terry Story: Sure.
Steve Pomeranz: I’m going to kind of go through them.
Terry Story: Sure.
Steve Pomeranz: So the most popular architectural style for homes these days is the ranch style.
Terry Story: Mm-hm (affirmative).
Steve Pomeranz: Then comes the Tudor style, which we don’t see much down here.
Terry Story: Right.
Steve Pomeranz: Then craftsman, which is that old kind of porch with the A-frame roof.
Terry Story: Yeah.
Steve Pomeranz: And oh, those are so cute, those houses. Great places to live in.
Steve Pomeranz: Mediterranean style, which we kind of see down here in south Florida. The Meisner style, sometimes it’s called.
Terry Story: Right. Spanish style.
Steve Pomeranz: Spanish style. And then finally the modern style, which is really starting to take off, which is kind of this square cement block with clean lines.
Terry Story: Right. Clean lines. Yep.
Steve Pomeranz: Okay. So let’s talk about living room styles right now as far as what’s most popular. Go ahead.
Terry Story: You know, it’s the 1950s. That’s up by 5000% year over year.
Steve Pomeranz: So to me that’s like bulbous radio… you know?
Terry Story: Yeah.
Steve Pomeranz: That’s the ’40s, maybe. The ’50s is what? It’s dining room tables, formica dining room tables?
Terry Story: I think that’s more ’70s. I don’t know.
Steve Pomeranz: Oh, okay.
Terry Story: Mid-Century. That’s what they call it. Mid-Century.
Steve Pomeranz: All right.
Terry Story: Mid-Century Modern.
Steve Pomeranz: That’s the most popular. I guess we should know what that is. Coastal.
Terry Story: Coastal. So that’s, in my mind, is a little on the transitional when you look at Coastal Living Magazine.
Steve Pomeranz: Yeah, okay.
Terry Story: It’s clean. Refresh. Light. White.
Steve Pomeranz: Light, white, beiges, and pinks, and whatever. Blues. Light blues.
Terry Story: Yeah.
Steve Pomeranz: I don’t know about pinks. I’m colorblind. 1970s is next.
Terry Story: Oh, we know what that is. That wood panel and the orange carpet. Did you live in a house like that? We didn’t.
Steve Pomeranz: I did. I did. Of course, I did.
Terry Story: Yeah. Yeah.
Steve Pomeranz: Yeah. I’ll admit it.
Terry Story: You’re old.
Steve Pomeranz: I’ve been through AA. I can admit things like that. No, only kidding. I have not been through AA. So 1970s and then farmhouse, which we all know. We all have, at one time in my life I dreamed about having a house that looked like a farmhouse.
Terry Story: Right. Everybody wants a wedding in a farmhouse.
Steve Pomeranz: Exactly. And then finally, Victorian.
Terry Story: Yeah.
Steve Pomeranz: Okay, so that’s bulbous furniture.
Terry Story: Right.
Steve Pomeranz: You know, padded.
Terry Story: Padded.
Steve Pomeranz: Lots of big arms and things like that.
Terry Story: Yeah, yeah.
Steve Pomeranz: Okay. Popular kitchen styles. The outdoor kitchen cabinets now.
Terry Story: Yeah. And this is searches people are doing. The searching on the internet for these things.
Steve Pomeranz: Oh, okay.
Terry Story: Outdoor kitchen cabinets. So we’re talking about summer kitchens.
Steve Pomeranz: Yes. So they’re real popular. Floating shelves.
Terry Story: Well, our producer, Erica Stimolo, knew what they were. And we didn’t know what they were, but those are shelves that you just stick on the wall. They don’t actually attach.
Steve Pomeranz: And they stay by themselves.
Terry Story: And they float. They don’t actually float, but they are called floating shelves. I mean we were really pretty dumb about this, but Erica set us straight. And then Bohemian.
Steve Pomeranz: Yes, we looked up that one, too. Yeah, I know. That means that the area under the sink, you cover with a little curtain. And you stick your Ajax-
Terry Story: Underneath that.
Steve Pomeranz: … underneath that with your Brillo pads. Right? Okay. Is that it?
Terry Story: And then light gray kitchen cabinets. We see a lot of that here today.
Steve Pomeranz: Okay.
Terry Story: White cabinets.
Steve Pomeranz: People are putting search terms, light gray kitchen cabinets.
Terry Story: Yeah.
Steve Pomeranz: That’s interesting.
Steve Pomeranz: And then finally…
Terry Story: Kitchen wallpaper. The wallpaper is starting to come back.
Steve Pomeranz: Now there is a huge difference here because the outdoor kitchen cabinets-
Terry Story: Right?
Steve Pomeranz: … there’s a 5000% increase versus the kitchen wallpaper, which is 130% increase.
Terry Story: Right, right.
Steve Pomeranz: So there’s a big difference between one and five.
Terry Story: Yeah. Exactly.
Steve Pomeranz: Okay. Most popular garden styles.
Terry Story: So that would be the enchanted garden up by 5,000 along with the DIY raised garden bed.
Steve Pomeranz: Wait, hang on. Okay. What is enchanted garden?
Terry Story: So enchanted, to me, I see a bunch of butterflies.
Steve Pomeranz: You do?
Terry Story: I see plants with-
Steve Pomeranz: That’s as far as you can go with that?
Terry Story: Yep. That’s about it.
Steve Pomeranz: Is it like a kitchen? Not a kitchen.
Terry Story: No, not a kitchen, Steve.
Steve Pomeranz: No. I didn’t mean that. Is it like an English garden with lots of wildflowers-
Terry Story: I’m seeing like branchy, bushy butterflies flying around.
Steve Pomeranz: You know what? You’re no help. Forget it. All right.
Terry Story: It’s not an enchanted forest. It’s an enchanted garden.
Steve Pomeranz: Okay, so that means-
Terry Story: I’m not a green thumb person, so you got me on all of this.
Steve Pomeranz: Okay, so maybe there’s a unicorn in there somewhere.
Terry Story: It could be.
Steve Pomeranz: DIY raised garden bed. Hey, we’ve got, well, we don’t have a to do-it-yourself. We actually bought-
Terry Story: You paid somebody to do it.
Steve Pomeranz: No, we actually bought it from the store.
Terry Story: Or no, you bought it already made.
Steve Pomeranz: We had it delivered. No, actually I put it together, thank you. I can use a screwdriver. Barely. Garden pathways, a vegetable garden and garden tubs.
Terry Story: Yeah, those are self-explanatory. Vegetable gardens, they’re hard around here. Just the elements.
Steve Pomeranz: Yeah. But we grow herbs. We do pretty well.
Terry Story: Yeah, herbs grow real well.
Steve Pomeranz: We grow lettuce, even… Lettuce grows extremely well in our raised garden.
Terry Story: You don’t have iguanas chomping on all of your stuff?
Steve Pomeranz: No. No, we do not.
Terry Story: Yeah. We’ve done the vegetable gardens in the beds and-
Steve Pomeranz: Well, I wonder, I mean ours are truly raised. They’re about four feet off the ground.
Terry Story: Well, some of these iguanas are like dogs. They get on their hind legs.
Steve Pomeranz: That is true. That is true. Fortunately, I haven’t had that experience. All right. Most popular DIY, which is do-it-yourself, home projects. Bathroom shelves.
Terry Story: Yeah. Everybody’s into these shelves.
Steve Pomeranz: Yeah.
Terry Story: I don’t know if they’re the floating shelves, but bathroom shelves.
Steve Pomeranz: Bathroom shelves, 5000% increase in searches. Outdoor kitchen, which we talked about. Outdoor furniture.
Terry Story: Outdoor furniture.
Steve Pomeranz: Okay, that’s fine. Murphy bed.
Terry Story: Yeah, they’re back.
Steve Pomeranz: You know why? Because these places people can afford are smaller-
Terry Story: Right
Steve Pomeranz: … and they need the extra room.
Terry Story: I actually was looking for a Murphy bed for one of my rooms.
Steve Pomeranz: A Murphy bed kind of takes up a lot of space, though.
Terry Story: It does. I didn’t go that direction, but I looked at it and I considered it.
Steve Pomeranz: Picture frames. That’s kind of boring, right? That’s a popular search. These are the do-it-yourself home projects. But I like this next category, most popular paint colors.
Terry Story: Yes. People ask me what colors should they paint the inside of their house.
Steve Pomeranz: Well, allow me to tell you.
Terry Story: So please do, Steve.
Steve Pomeranz: Okay. The first color is Blueprint. The second is Nightwatch. Then-
Terry Story: I like the third one.
Steve Pomeranz: … Liquid Kitty, Metropolitan, and On the Rocks.
Terry Story: Yeah. I have no idea what these colors are. I’m going to guess they’re in the white family because everything I know is pretty white and neutral.
Steve Pomeranz: But Blueprint. We know what Blueprint is. That’s that blue from blueprints.
Terry Story: Do you think it’s really a blue?
Steve Pomeranz: I don’t know.
Terry Story: It could be anything. That’s a fun thing about paint colors.
Steve Pomeranz: Well, I always wanted a job-I mean, there’s a couple of jobs I wish I had, and naming stuff like this and coming up with silly names like this, like On the Rocks and Liquid Kitty, you know what I mean?
Terry Story: Liquid Kitty? I mean, come on. I’m going to have to Google it.
Steve Pomeranz: So Erica is looking up as we’re talking.
Terry Story: Gray-blue. Okay.
Steve Pomeranz: It’s a gray-blue.
Terry Story: Blueprint. Gray-blue. I’ll go with that.
Steve Pomeranz: Okay. What about Liquid Kitty? Can you look that up for us?
Terry Story: It’s gotta be yellow.
Steve Pomeranz: Oh, you think?
Terry Story: I’m guessing.
Steve Pomeranz: Okay.
Terry Story: I don’t know. When you think of a cat, what color do you think of cats? I always think of the orange one.
Steve Pomeranz: Gray.
Terry Story: Gray. Gray cats? There aren’t many gray cats.
Steve Pomeranz: All right, I think we’ve covered this more than enough. My guest, as always, is Terry Story, a 30-year veteran with Keller Williams located in Boca Raton, Florida. And she can be found at terrystory.com. Thanks a lot, Terry.
Terry Story: Thanks for having me, Steve.
